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The Scotian Shelf harbors unique aggregations of the glass sponge Vazella pourtalesii that provides an important habitat for benthic and pelagic fauna. Recent studies have shown that these sponge grounds have persisted in the face of strong inter-annual and multi-decadal variability in temperature and salinity. However, little is known of these environmental characteristics on hourly-seasonal time scales. This study presents the first hydrodynamic observations and associated (food) particle supply mechanisms for the Vazella sponge grounds, highlighting the influence of natural variability in environmental conditions on sponge growth and resilience. Near-bottom environmental conditions were characterized by high temporal resolution data collected with a benthic lander, deployed during a period of 10 months in the Sambro Bank Sponge Conservation Area. The lander was equipped with temperature and oxygen sensors, a current meter, a sediment trap and a video camera. In addition, water column profiles of temperature and salinity were collected in an array across the sponge grounds from high to lower sponge presence probability. Over the course of the lander deployment, temperature fluctuated between 8.8–12°C with an average of 10.6 ± 0.4°C. Dissolved oxygen concentration was on average 6.3 mg l–1, and near-bottom current speed was on average 0.12 m s–1, with peaks up to 0.47 m s–1. Semi-diurnal tidal currents promoted constant resuspension of particulate matter in the benthic boundary layer. Surface storm events episodically caused extremely turbid conditions on the seafloor that persisted for several days, with particles being resuspended to more than 13 m above the seabed. The carbon flux in the near-bottom sediment trap peaked during storm events and also after a spring bloom in April, when fresh phytodetritus was observed in the bottom boundary layer. While resuspension events can represent a major stressor for sponges, limiting their filtration capability and remobilizing them, episodes of strong currents and lateral particle transport likely play an important role in food supply and the replenishment of nutrients and oxygen. Our results contextualize human-induced threats such as bottom fishing and climate change by providing more knowledge of the natural environmental conditions under which sponge grounds persist.

Cold-water coral (CWC) reefs are distributed globally and form complex three-dimensional structures on the deep seafloor, providing habitat for numerous species. Here, we measured the community O2 and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) flux of CWC reef habitats with different coral cover and bare sediment (acting as reference site) in the Logachev mound area (NE Atlantic). Two methodologies were applied: the non-invasive in situ aquatic eddy co-variance (AEC) technique, and ex situ whole box core (BC) incubations. The AEC system was deployed twice per coral mound (69 h in total), providing an integral estimate of the O2 flux from a total reef area of up to 500 m2, with mean O2 consumption rates ranging from 11.6 ± 3.9 to 45.3 ± 11.7 mmol O2 m–2 d–1 (mean ± SE). CWC reef community O2 fluxes obtained from the BC incubations ranged from 5.7 ± 0.3 to 28.4 ± 2.4 mmol O2 m–2 d–1 (mean ± SD) while the O2 flux measured by BC incubations on the bare sediment reference site reported 1.9 ± 1.3 mmol O2 m–2 d–1 (mean ± SD). Overall, O2 fluxes measured with AEC and BC showed reasonable agreement, except for one station with high habitat heterogeneity. Our results suggest O2 fluxes of CWC reef communities in the North East Atlantic are around five times higher than of sediments from comparable depths and living CWCs are driving the increased metabolism. DIN flux measurements by the BC incubations also revealed around two times higher DIN fluxes at the CWC reef (1.17 ± 0.87 mmol DIN m–2 d–1), compared to the bare sediment reference site (0.49 ± 0.32 mmol DIN m–2 d–1), due to intensified benthic release of NH4+. Our data indicate that the amount of living corals and dead coral framework largely contributes to the observed variability in O2 fluxes on CWC reefs. A conservative estimate, based on the measured O2 and DIN fluxes, indicates that CWC reefs process 20 to 35% of the total benthic respiration on the southeasterly Rockall Bank area, which demonstrates that CWC reefs are important to carbon and nitrogen mineralization at the habitat scale.

The deep sloping sides of Saba Bank, the largest submarine atoll in the Atlantic Ocean, show quite different internal wave characteristics. To measure these characteristics, two 350 m long arrays consisting of primary a high-resolution temperature T-sensor string and secondary an acoustic Doppler current profiler were moored around 500 m water depth at the northern and southern flanks of Saba Bank for 23 days. We observed that the surrounding density stratified waters supported large internal tides and episodically large turbulent exchange in up to 50 m tall overturns. However, an inertial subrange was observed at frequencies/wavenumbers smaller than the mean buoyancy scales but not at larger than buoyancy scales, while near-bottom non-linear turbulent bores were absent. The latter reflect more open-ocean than steep sloping topography internal wave turbulence. Both the Banks’ north-side and south-side slopes are locally steeper ‘super-critical’ than internal tide slope angles. However, the three times weaker north-side slope showed quasi-mode-2 semidiurnal internal tides, not high-frequency solitary waves occurring every 12 h, over the range of observations, centered with dominant near-inertial shear around 150 m above the bottom. They generated the largest turbulence when touching the bottom and providing off-bank flowing turbid waters. In contrast, the steeper south-side slope showed quasi-mode-1 internal tides occasionally having excursions > 100 m crest-trough, with weak inertial shear and smallest buoyancy scale turbulence periodicity occurring near the bottom and about half-way the water column, below abundant coral reefs in shallow

The turbulence regime near the crest of a biologically rich seamount of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge southwest of the Azores was registered in high spatial and temporal resolution. Internal tides and their higher harmonics dominate the internal wave motions, producing considerable shear-induced turbulent mixing in layers of 10-50 m thickness. This interior mixing of about 100 times open-ocean interior values is observed both at a high-resolution temperature sensor mooring-site at the crest, 770 m water depth being nearly 400 m below the top of the seamount, and a CTD-yoyo site at the slope off the crest 400 m horizontally away, 880 m water depth. Only at the mooring site, additionally two times higher turbulence is observed near the bottom, associated with highly non-linear wave breaking. The highest abundance of epifauna, notably sponges, are observed just below the crest and 100 m down the eastern slope (700-800 m) in a cross-ridge video-camera transect. This sponge belt is located in a water layer of depressed oxygen levels (saturation 63±2%) with a local minimum centered around 700 m. Turbulent mixing supplies oxygen to this region from above and below and is expected to mix nutrients away from this biodegraded layer towards the depth of highest abundance of macrofauna.

During HERMES cruises in spring 2006 and 2007 to a cold-water coral (CWC) reef at the border between Norway and Sweden, we studied effects of the reef on the quality (C/N ratio) of suspended particles. The Tisler reef is situated on top of a southeast-northwest-oriented sill forming the connection between the Kosterfjord and the open Skagerrak. In spring 2006, two benthic landers equipped with sediment traps, current meters, and turbidity sensors were deployed at the northwest and southeast edges of Tisler reef. The unidirectional northwest currents during the deployment enabled comparison of the quality of particles before and after crossing the reef. Before the onset of the 2006 spring bloom, particles trapped at the northwest reef edge had a more degraded character than those at the southeast edge. When the spring bloom swamped the study area with fresh phytoplankton, cross-reef distinctions in particle quality disappeared. In spring 2007, near-bottom suspended particles were collected with submersible pumps during one part of a tidal cycle. Analysis revealed a difference in composition of suspended particulate matter along the reef, with highest quality at the northwest edge where particles were delivered, and lower quality at the middle and southeast edge of the reef. Results from both cruises show that particles passing over Tisler reef are subject to preferential removal of nitrogen, indicating that even a relatively small reef such as Tisler has an impact on the biochemistry of its environment. This evidence suggests that, globally, CWC reefs are hotspots of mineralization activity in the ocean.

Anthropogenic litter is present in all marine habitats, from beaches to the most remote points in the oceans. On the seafloor, marine litter, particularly plastic, can accumulate in high densities with deleterious consequences for its inhabitants. Yet, because of the high cost involved with sampling the seafloor, no large-scale assessment of distribution patterns was available to date. Here, we present data on litter distribution and density collected during 588 video and trawl surveys across 32 sites in European waters. We found litter to be present in the deepest areas and at locations as remote from land as the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The highest litter density occurs in submarine canyons, whilst the lowest density can be found on continental shelves and on ocean ridges. Plastic was the most prevalent litter item found on the seafloor. Litter from fishing activities (derelict fishing lines and nets) was particularly common on seamounts, banks, mounds and ocean ridges. Our results highlight the extent of the problem and the need for action to prevent increasing accumulation of litter in marine environments.

Abstract Annual monitoring of the benthic fauna living at the Frisian Front (southern North Sea) has shown a tenfold decrease in the dominant brittlestar Amphiura filiformis in 1993-1995. In search of evidence that this decline was caused by a change in benthic food supply, we analysed variations in the shell growth of the bivalve Mya truncata from the Frisian Front during the period of interest. For this purpose, the widths of the internal growth bands in the chondrophore of M. truncata were standardised and assigned to calendar years. Averaging the yearly band width in the period 1985-2000 among 25 individuals revealed low growth rates in 1986 and 1992. Growth of M. truncata quickly recovered after 1992, while A. filiformis densities remained at low levels. Moreover, the 1986 dip in M. truncata growth had no equivalent in A. filiformis density. We conclude that there is no direct coupling between fluctuations in density of A. filiformis and variations in growth of M. truncata. The data we collected during this study on the size and spatial distribution of M. truncata are discussed in the light of plans for the protection and conservation of long-lived benthic organisms in the North Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]